Adding a blog to ecommerce site

I'm thinking about adding a blog to my site, partially for generating new content and partially as a new source of IBLs. I know the general sentiment is that blogs are a great way to extent the content of a site, but I'm wondering if there is any downside to blogging.

Is there a chance that mysite.com/blog will start ranking higher than mysite.com for my main keywords (not because of more optimized content, but simply because the blog home page may generate higher link popularity)?

I wouldn't worry too much about whether the blog element of the site gets more IBL's or not - if it's hosted as part of your site it can only be a good thing. If a lot of IBL's come to your blog page, it is likely that your site homepage will also benefit as a result.

First of all, if the blog is incorporated into your site's look and feel, blog visitors will find it easy to move around to your other content.

Also, the IBL's coming to the blog page would also benefit your homepage rankings, if the anchor text in the blog links also appears on the homepage. This can often be seen in Google, when an inner page from a site will appear higher in the rankings, but the homepage will be next on the rankings, inset slightly on the screen.

An example: a lot of backlinks to 'joe's widget shop blog' use the anchor text 'widget shop'. The words 'widget shop' also appear on the homepage of the site. The Google results will appear something like this:

Joe's Widget Shop Blog
Joe Soap speaks on widgets and gidgets....
www.joeswidgetshop.com/blog

Joe's Widget Shop
Widgets and gidgets for all your needs. Order online from us today.
www.joeswidgetshop.com

So I would say go for it, provided the blog is hosted on the domain.

If you were using something like blogger's hosting service, there would be a problem because it could rank above the site and the main site page might not be next on the rankings or anywhere near it.

Hi TearingHairOut,

This is not true for Google since they rank PAGES and not SITES.



Once again, this is not true for Google.



While you are correct in saying ...



... It is not the result of the REASON you gave.

Just so you'll know, we'll explain why you see such results for the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Pages).



::: Why Do You See Two Pages From The Same Domain With The Second Page Indented? :::


THE SHORT ANSWER:

Because both pages are ranked within the same rankings range as your page's preference is set for.


THE LONG ANSWER:

By default Google sets the number of results per page to 10 SERP.

You can change this number to any number from 1 to 100 but if you use their preferences page to set this number then they will only provide you with the following options ... 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100.





By default Google sets the number of pages returned for a domain to 2.

If the 2 pages from the same domain are on the same page then Google will group them as you described, with the higher ranking page on top and the lower ranking page indented below it.

If the 2 pages from the same domain are not on the same page then Google will not add the second page as described above but instead it will list it where it actually ranks and Google will then add the following information below it ...

[ More results from www.domain.com ]

... If indeed there are more pages from that domain returned for the query used. This will also be found below the indented listing if the domain has more pages from that domain returned for the query used.

In other words, if you are using the default setting and see the #9 ranked page with an indented page under it, then deductive reasoning tells you that the second page from that domain is actually ranked at #10.

To continue with another illustration, if you see the #1 ranked page with an indented page under it, then deductive reasoning tells you that the second page from that domain is actually ranked somewhere from #2 to #10.




Of course, now that you realize why Google groups pages from the same domain as they do, you could end up with the homepage not grouped in with the blog page at all and the chances are that in the long run they won't be because why would you want to optimize two pages for the same PRIMARY keyword phrase? What a waste that would be. Of course, for some of the less competitive terms you'll find the homepage and the blog page grouped together, but not for your most competitive terms, at least we hope not as that would be wasting your money and/or your time and efforts.

Your Friends,

Sharon and Roy Montero

Sharon and Roy,

Thanks for your observations.




I must disagree here. Google do rank pages, but the IBL's to the blog page will bring some PR, and some of this in turn will be passed on to the homepage (and other pages). So the homepage ranking would benefit to some extent.



While I accept that the Google algorithm doesn't directly give benefit to the homepage, if the homepage is 'within the same rankings range as your page's preference is set for', then it will be more likely to appear as an indented result if the anchor text used for the blog backlinks also appears on it. If the anchor text is not present in the homepage, it is more likely that there will just be the 'More results from this site' line under the listing for the blog page.



I never suggested that the two pages should be optimised for the same keyword phrase, primary or otherwise. A webmaster does not have control over what anchor text other sites use for unsolicited backlinks. A blog may receive backlinks that happen to use the anchor text (or variations thereof) which the webmaster is using for the site homepage.

Hi TearingHairOut,

Yes, you are correct in saying that ...



... But since PageRank has nothing to do with relevance, the ranking benefit is actually so very, very, very minimal that it is not even worth the breath to speak about it, so we don't because too many folks new to SEO will then receive the wrong impression about PageRank, which is not a good thing and that is why PageRank currently receives more credit than it is actually due from those who don't know how PageRank is actually factored into the algorithm.



Actually, if there are no other pages that match the query from the domain, then Google will not add the following information below it ...

[ More results from www.domain.com ]

... Because there aren't ... more results from www.domain.com ... Thus, only one listing will appear in the results.



Agreed, and just for the record, we know that you ...

"... never suggested that the two pages should be optimised for the same keyword phrase, primary or otherwise."

... And we never suggested that you said as much, we were only generalizing our statement.

Your Friends,

Sharon and Roy Montero